18TH SMART GRID FORUM 2026
October 6 and 7, 2026 | Frei Caneca Convention Center - São Paulo
Preliminary Program (subject to change)
October 6, 2026 | Tuesday
7:00 – 8:30 | Welcome Coffee, Registration and Networking
8:45 – 9:00 | Welcome and Presentation of the 18th Latin American Smart Grid Forum 2026
9:00 – 11:00 | Panel 1 — The sector in transition: renewed concessions, digital networks, competitive market and consumer at the center
The opening session will discuss how market opening, new concession contracts, digitalization, quality of service and resilience are redefining the role of electricity distribution in Brazil.
Highlighted topics: low-voltage market opening; new concession contracts; regulatory digitalization; quality and resilience; role of sector institutions in coordinating the transition.
11:00 – 11:40 | Coffee break, networking and exhibition visit
11:40 – 13:10 | Panel 2 – The New Consumer Interface: Smart Metering, Smart Tariffs, Data and New Services
The panel will discuss how smart meters, connectivity, data and modern tariffs form the basic infrastructure for active consumers, new services, demand response and more efficient low-voltage management.
Featured topics: AMI; time-of-use and capacity tariffs; prepayment; consumer data; metering as a service; integration of metering, billing, customer service, service quality and loss reduction.
13:10 – 15:00 | Lunch break, networking and exhibition visit
15:00 – 16:40 | Panel 3 – Low-voltage Market Opening, Open Energy and New Digital Agents
The session will examine the commercial, regulatory and digital conditions for a sustainable opening of the low-voltage market, with consumer protection, adequate settlement mechanisms and clear allocation of responsibilities.
Featured topics: retail electricity supply; Open Energy; SUI; guarantees and default risk; aggregators; P2P; energy communities; impacts of market opening on non-technical losses and sector responsibilities.
16:40 – 17:20 | Coffee break, networking and exhibition visit
17:20 – 19:20 | Panel 4 — Flexibility as infrastructure: storage, batteries, demand response, VPPs, and curtailment
The panel will treat flexibility as a new class of infrastructure to defer investments, reduce curtailment, improve quality of service, integrate renewables, and enable new operating and market models.
Featured topics: BESS; demand response; aggregators; VPPs; long-duration storage; electric mobility; ancillary services; curtailment; flexibility remuneration models.
19:20 – 20:30 | Welcome cocktail, networking and exhibition visit
October 7, 2026 | Wednesday
7:00 – 8:30 | Registration, coffee and networking
8:30 – 8:45 | Opening of Day 2 – summary of the previous day and overview of the day’s agenda
8:45 – 10:45 | Panel 5 – Operational Intelligence for Distribution: AI, ADMS, DERMS, DSO, Data, Telecom and Cybersecurity
The session will discuss the digital architecture needed to operate millions of meters, sensors, distributed resources, flexible loads and active consumers with security, interoperability and efficiency.
Featured topics: AI applied to grid operation; ADMS; DERMS; DMS; OMS; GIS; digital twins; critical telecommunications; RF mesh, PLC, cellular, 450 MHz, Wi-SUN and G3; operational cybersecurity.
10:45 – 11:25 | Coffee break, networking and exhibition visit
11:25 – 13:05 | Panel 6 — Robustness, quality, and resilience: grids prepared for extreme events
The panel will discuss how to transform resilience into planning, recognized investment, automation, predictive maintenance, and continuity of essential services in the face of extreme weather events.
Highlighted themes: quality of supply; advanced automation; intelligent protection; FLISR; sensors; predictive monitoring; microgrids; resilient telecommunications; critical services such as sanitation, hospitals, data centers, and industry.
13:05 – 14:45 | Lunch break, networking and exhibition visit
14:45 – 16:15 | Panel 7 – Who pays for the digital transformation of the grid? Regulation, TOTEX, incentives and financing
The session will connect technological transformation to the regulatory and economic framework, discussing how to recognize and finance software, data, telecommunications, automation, flexibility and asset-light solutions.
Featured topics: new concession contracts; performance-based regulation; TOTEX; RIIO; innovation incentives; financing digitalization; sharing of efficiency gains; role of consumers in investment prioritization.
16:15 – 16:55 | Coffee break, networking and exhibition visit
16:55 – 18:25 | Panel 8 — CEO and Leadership Agenda: Strategic Decisions for Distribution Utilities Toward 2030
Closing panel with business and institutional leaders to discuss the strategic decisions needed to prepare the grid for market opening, digitalization, resilience and new services.
Featured topics: priorities toward 2030; financing the transformation; the role of distribution utilities, suppliers and consumers; technologies that are no longer pilots; regulatory and business decisions that cannot wait.
18:25 – 18:40 | Closing